Christopher Liddell

Christopher Liddell, Assistant to Trump, Director of the Strategic Initiatives Group

He is in the secretive Strategic Initiatives Group with Bannon, Kushner, Gorka, and Priebus. “The New Zealand-born Liddell served as CFO of Microsoft, International Paper, WME-IMG and General Motors. He also was executive director of Mitt Romney’s 2012 transition planning team.

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is accusing a top White House official of potentially violating criminal conflict of interest laws by playing a role in meetings with major companies in which he also appeared to have held millions of dollars in stock.

The group filed its complaint Tuesday against Christopher Liddell, a former executive with Microsoft and General Motors who was appointed by President Donald Trump to be an assistant to the president and director of strategic initiatives. It said Liddell might have broken the law over three days in January and early February by participating in policy meetings between Trump and leaders from as many as 18 companies that he also had a financial interest in, including Ford Motor Co., Johnson & Johnson and GM.

In filing its complaint, the group cited Liddell’s certificate of divestiture forms, issued Feb. 9 by the Office of Government Ethics, which listed the companies he and his wife held stocks in through a trust.

But CREW noted that the White House meetings — which covered tax, regulatory, infrastructure and investment policies — took place on Jan. 23 and 24, as well as on Feb. 3, before his divestiture certificate came out. CREW said in its complaint that the timing discrepancy “strongly indicates Mr. Liddell still held stock in the companies at that point and had not divested his financial interests in these assets prior to his participation in the meetings.”

The group’s letter to White House Counsel Don McGahn asked him to determine whether a Justice Department investigation was necessary.” Politico